ESSEX–The local board of education is seeking to fill a vacancy created by the resignation last month of Susan Sobolov James. A Republican, James was elected in 2007 to a six-year term on the board.

Board Chairman Lon Seidman said the board has asked the Essex Republican Town committee to recommend a replacement who would serve through the next town election in 2011. The board, which governs the operation of Essex Elementary School, is authorized to fill vacancies by appointment.

Lon Seidman is a partner in LocalOnlineNews.TV LLC

By: Charles Stannard

REGION 4– Linda Hall, an eight-year member, has been selected as the new chairman of the Region 4 Board of Education. Hall, a Democrat, was selected on a unanimous vote of the board last week.

Hall replaces Terry Stewart, an Essex Republican who has led the board since 2005. Stewart did not seek a new six-year term in the town election this year. Mary Beth Harrigan, an Essex Republican who has served on the board since 2005, is the new vice-chairman. Richard Strauss, a Chester Republican, was picked as the board treasurer.

The panel left open the position of secretary because one newly elected member, Pamela Christman of Chester, was still awiting confirmation from an election recount when officers were selected on Nov. 5. The nine-member Region 4 Board of Education governs the operation of Valley Regional High School and John Winthrop Middle School.

Hall is the director of the CDE Cooperative Nursery School in Deep River. The mother of two grown children who graduated from Region 4 schools, Hall was elected to the Region 4 board in 2001 and re-elected for a second term in 2007. She previously served eight years on the Deep River Board of Education, including two years as chairwoman from 1999-2001.

Hall said a developing a proposal for a full regionalization of Region 4 schools is a top priority for 2010. While the Region 4 board runs the secondary schools, local school boards run the elementary schools in Chester, Deep River, and Essex.

In a complex arrangement that is unique in the state, a supervision district board of education comprised of 36 members of all four boards manages shared services, such as the central office, special education services, and transportation. The regionalization proposal, which must be approved by voters in referendums in all three towns, is expected to call for creation of a single elected Region 4 Board of Education to run all five schools in the district.

Hall said Friday “the timeline is fluid,” for holding referendums on a regionalization plan as school administrators and board members work to adress all details related to the proposed change. “We could hopefully vote by June but we’re not wedded to that,” she said.

Hall said developing a budget for 2010-2011 that can win voter approval at the annual three-town referendum in May is another priority. “The budget is something we’re going to have to do a real good job of looking at,” she said.

By Charles Stannard

REGION 4– Assistant Superintendent of Schools Ruth I. Levy has been selected as the new superintendent of schools for the Region 4 towns of Chester, Deep River, and Essex.

Levy, who became the first assistant superintendent for the district in November 2006, will replace Kim Caron in the top job on July 1. Caron, who became superintendent in the summer of 2006, is departing to become superintendent/headmaster at Woodstock Academy, an independent secondary school in Woodstock, CT.

Levy said Friday it was her experience in the district and a desire for continuity that led the four Region 4 school boards to approach her about the position soon after Caron confirmed his intent to leave in April. Levy was hired on a unanimous vote of the boards after a formal interview last month. A committee of district administrators and teachers also participated in the interview.

The school boards affirmed in a statement issued after the vote that Levy’s “overall knowledge” and “personal and professional style,” made her the top choice to replace Caron.

“She has demonstrated a steadfast dedication to children, strength in human relations, and a deep commitment to educational excellence,” the boards declared.

Levy, 56, is a New Jersey native who served as director of special education and pupil services in the Rocky Hill school district for eight years before coming to Region 4. She worked previously as a special education teacher in the Waterford public schools and as an administrator in Regional School District 11 (Chaplin, Hampton, and Scotland.). Levy holds an Ed.D in educational leadership from the Uinversity of Hartford.

Levy said she “loves” the tri-town community and looks forward to a lengthy tenure leading the district’s schools. She has sold her condiominium in Middlefield and plans to move to the Valley Shore area by this fall. ” This is where I hoped to be and I intend to stay,” Levy said.

A willingness to stick around was clearly an issue in the district, which has had two superintendents and one interim superintendent since John Gillespie retired from the top job after a six-year tenure in June 2004. Tom Forcella, who was hired out of Maine, held the job for less than 18 months before accepting the superintendent’s job in Guilford. Both Forcella and Caron have pointed to the district’s complex governing structure as making the position more difficult and time consuming than leadership posts in other school districts.

One of the oldest regional school districts in the state, Region 4 has four separate elected school boards and a supervisory board that governs shared expenses and services, such as special education and transportation. The Region 4 Board of Education governs the operation of Valley Regional High School and John Winthrop Middle School. Local school boards manage the elementary schools in Chester, Deep River and Essex.

Levy said she hopes to lead the district to full regionalization, where a single elected school board would run all the schools, as soon as possible. Full regionalization would require referendum approval from voters in each of the three towns. Levy said she hopes regionalization referendums can be held before the end of this year.

Levy said she wants to build on Caron’s efforts to enhance education in the district, including implementation of full-day kindergarten at the elementary schools. Levy said she looks forward to working with a team of school administrators she described as “like a family.”

The group includes including three administrators hired under Caron, Valley Regional High School Principal Ian Nevaiser, assistant principal Kristina Martineau, and Chester Elementary School Principal Michael Barile.

The other top administrators are Essex Elementary School Principal Joanne Beekley, Deep River Elementary School Principal Jack Pietrick, and the district’s senior administrator, John Winthrop Middle School Principal David Russell.

“This district has a supportive community, some of the best and brightest educators, and a school board that is fully invested in the education of children,” Levy said.

Levy becomes the second woman to lead Region 4 schools since the district was established in 1952. The late Alice Duckworth of Deep River served as superintendent in the late 1970s and early 1980s.